Flydon

Sport is founded on the fundamental principles of fair play, equal opportunities and level playing fields. Most athletes are therefore pragmatic in accepting defeat when they’ve been fairly beaten, when both athletes or teams had equal opportunity due to similar preparation and recovery times. At the recent #AsianGames in Nagoya there were instances of football and volleyball teams arriving late for matches after being taken to the wrong venues. And some outdoor sports had no contingency plans for re-scheduling due to bad weather. 2 cricket QF were therefore decided by the teams’ world rankings rather than by an actual match. The #badminton schedule required players to play 2 matches in one day, with play finishing at 2am with literally no spectators present. Media obligations, warm downs, a 1-hour drive back to the hotel, and the need to eat, meant the 2 latest to finish, Sindhu and Christie, probably didn’t get to sleep before 4am. The quarterfinals then started at 9.30am that same morning! Both lost their QF matches. Christie losing for the first time in 11 meetings to Loh Kean Yew who finished his previous match at 6.20pm, almost 8 hours before Christie finished at 2am. Despite the scheduling issues, there was some wonderful badminton and notable achievements. An Se Young became the first player to win 2 WS Gold medals. Vitidsarn became the first badminton player from Thailand to win individual Gold. And Loh Kean Yew’s Silver was a first individual medal for Singapore. The WD final was clearly the outstanding match on finals day, despite the sad ending with Liu Sheng Shu struggling with cramp. But Baek/Lee eventually became the first Korean pair to win Gold for 24 years. Carnando/Marthin won 2 Golds, the MD and the Men’s Team having been an integral part of Indonesia’s stunning performance in coming from 0-2 in the final against China. Whilst I feel privileged to have witnessed some wonderful badminton, I also feel desperately sorry for all those whose lifelong dreams, and ability to perform to their best, were compromised by logistical or organisational issues, as elimination in such circumstances cuts deep and is harder to accept. 📸 BadmintonPhoto